Trash

Trash are items in the Animal Crossing series that can be caught while fishing. There are three types of trash that can be caught in every game: the boot, the empty can, and the old tire. Other trash items include spoiled turnips, tree branches, rusted parts, used fountain fireworks, fake art, and any lost items that have expired.

In some Animal Crossing games, they cannot be sold for any Bells and mostly just take up pocket space. If dropped on the ground, trash will decrease the environment rating. They, like rafflesia and spoiled turnips, can be used to attract flies. Giving a villager a trash item will cause them to reject it and negatively impact friendship.

There are several methods to dispose trash, including using the recycling bin (prior to New Horizons), interacting with trash bin public works projects or furniture, and using the "sell" option at the store.

Appearances

In Animal Crossing

In the first-generation Animal Crossing games, trash has a 5% chance of being fished up from any fish shadow. Empty cans come from tiny and small shadows, boots come from medium and large shadows, and old tires come from very large and huge shadows. Trash cannot be fished up if the player has full pockets.

When pulled from the water, each trash item has a unique sprite, though when dropped, all types of trash appear as a pile of garbage.

To dispose trash, the player can give the item to Tom Nook, in which he will dispose the item as he cannot buy it for Bells. The player can also drop the trash item in the dump.

In Wild World

A player catching a boot in Wild World.

In Animal Crossing: Wild World, trash is much more commonly encountered. They can be disposed either through Tom Nook or the recycling bin, where trash cannot appear.

In City Folk

A player catching a boot in City Folk.

In Animal Crossing: City Folk, trash is uncommon, serving the same purpose as in previous games. It can be disposed either through Tom Nook or the recycling bin.

In New Leaf

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, trash functions largely the same in the previous games. If the Keep Town Beautiful Ordinance is in effect, trash will not appear.

There are two methods of disposing trash in New Leaf. Firstly, the player can give the trash to Reese at Re-Tail to dispose it, but the player will need to pay a fee of 80 Bells. Fishing out trash and disposing of it at Re-Tail increases the approval rating needed for the development permit. Secondly, the player can dispose trash either using the garbage can public works project or a furniture that can dispose trash. Other players can also use these objects to remove the trash.

In New Horizons

A player giving trash to Bubbles in New Horizons.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player is freely able to sell boots, empty cans, and old tires to Nook's Cranny for 10 Bells each. However, Timmy and Tommy will not accept forgeries, while expired lost items ("What was this again?") will be disposed of for free. They can also use a trash bin furniture (such as the garbage pail) to dispose trash.

Trash bin furniture

The following furniture items act as trash bins to dispose trash.

Trash bins in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

#	Item	Buy price	Sell price	Available from	HHA theme(s)	Interact	Customizable
646	Garbage bin	1,000 Bells	250 Bells	Nook's Cranny	Facility / Amusement park	Trash	No
647	Garbage can	960 Bells	240 Bells	Nook's Cranny	Park / City life	Trash	No
648	Garbage pail	1,000 Bells	250 Bells	Nook's Cranny	Park / City life	Trash	No
1,376	Rattan waste bin	1,000 Bells	250 Bells	Nook's Cranny (upgraded)	Living room / Resort	Trash	No
1,654	Steel trash can	1,000 Nook Miles	5,000 Bells	Nook Stop	City life / Amusement park	Trash	Yes
1,963	Wooden waste bin	Not for sale	480 Bells	Crafting	Child's room / Living room	Trash	Yes

Includes data sourced from the Data Spreadsheet for Animal Crossing New Horizons, compiled and edited by 6480, noizhub, Ricky, chaiinchomp, saberslime, robotic_scarab, mollumisc, sunmarsh, kyrokey, obstinateRixatrix, jackiwi, Zalex, SuperHamster, kait, hyuum, Azarro, Czarcasm, cinnamon_swirlix, astronomyfortwo, Welcius, glowtopia, BriKun, Alyrei, dodocodes.com, StevieCoops, sneeze, Shiny190, TwistedPeach, LavaToaster, capstone, vmario, rocklamp, Alexis, Aeon, and PanchamBro.

DIY recipes

Another method to dispose trash items is to use them in DIY, as several recipes incorporate trash into them. Nearly all recipes can be obtained by catching varying amounts of trash (the one exception being the lunar rover, which is obtained from Celeste).

Recipes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

#	Item	Type	Buy price	Available from	Materials
163	Recycled-can thumb piano	Furniture	Not for sale	Fishing	1× Empty can 1× Wood 1× Iron nugget
164	Tire toy	Furniture	Not for sale	Fishing	1× Old tire
165	Tire stack	Furniture	Not for sale	Fishing	3× Old tire
166	Trash bags	Furniture	Not for sale	Fishing	1× Empty can 1× Boot 1× Old tire
167	Garbage-heap wall	Interior	Not for sale	Fishing	2× Empty can 2× Boot 2× Old tire
168	Garbage-heap flooring	Interior	Not for sale	Fishing	2× Empty can 2× Boot 2× Old tire
169	Recycled boots	Clothing	Not for sale	Fishing	2× Boot
310	Succulent plant	Furniture	Not for sale	Fishing	10× Clump of weeds 1× Empty can
460	Lunar rover	Furniture	Not for sale	Celeste Message bottle	10× Star fragment 10× Iron nugget 4× Old tire

Includes data sourced from the Data Spreadsheet for Animal Crossing New Horizons, compiled and edited by 6480, noizhub, Ricky, chaiinchomp, saberslime, robotic_scarab, mollumisc, sunmarsh, kyrokey, obstinateRixatrix, jackiwi, Zalex, SuperHamster, kait, hyuum, Azarro, Czarcasm, cinnamon_swirlix, astronomyfortwo, Welcius, glowtopia, BriKun, Alyrei, dodocodes.com, StevieCoops, sneeze, Shiny190, TwistedPeach, LavaToaster, capstone, vmario, rocklamp, Alexis, Aeon, and PanchamBro.